The East African country recently said it tapped a group of telecommunications companies led by the U.K.’s Vodafone Group PLC to build a nationwide, 5G-capable wireless network.

The group had won financial backing for the multibillion-dollar project from a newly created U.S. foreign-aid agency, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The agency offers low-interest loans, but the financing comes with a condition: The money won’t be used to buy telecom equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. Washington considers both a spying threat, an accusation the companies deny, reports the newspaper.

South Africa’s MTN Group Ltd emerged as the losing bidder.

The company's  proposal was financed in part by a Chinese investor, reports said.

The Ethiopian Communications Authority said in a statement: "Following a transparent and competitive process that required a significant evaluation of technical and financial qualification requirements, the Government of Ethiopia through the Ethiopian Communications Authority and the Ministry of Finance, awarded today the Global Partnership for Ethiopia, a consortium consisting of Vodafone of UK, Safaricom of Kenya, Vodacom of South Africa, Sumitomo Corporation of Japan, CDC Group (UK’s development finance institution) and DFC (US’s International Development Finance Corporation) a nationwide full-service Telecommunications Service Operator License."

"The process marks a new milestone in Ethiopia’s Telecommunications service provision, by opening the sector for competition," read the statement.